How to Paraphrase in English Academic Writing

About this Video

• Video Title: How to Paraphrase in English Academic Writing
• Channel: The Writing Workshop
• Speakers: (Speaker name not provided in transcript)
• Duration: 00:34:14

Introduction

This video provides a comprehensive guide on paraphrasing in English academic writing. It defines paraphrasing, outlines key responsibilities when paraphrasing, and details six techniques to effectively reword text while preserving the original meaning. The video emphasizes the importance of changing language significantly while retaining the core idea and properly citing sources in academic contexts.

Key Takeaways

1. Definition of Paraphrasing: Rephrasing written or spoken content using different words and language, often in a simpler and shorter form, to clarify the original meaning. The tone can also be altered.

2. Responsibilities of Paraphrasing:

   • Substantially change the language.
   • Preserve the main idea and key terms/data.
   • Cite the source (important for academic writing).

3. Six Paraphrasing Techniques:

   • Using synonyms (replace one or more words).
   • Changing verb structures (positive to negative or vice-versa).
   • Altering voice (active to passive or passive to active).
   • Changing parts of speech (nouns to verbs, etc.).
   • Combining or splitting sentences.
   • Moving sentence parts (e.g., adverbs, phrases).